I Love You...I Know
Fandom: My Hero Academia
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 1.1k
Warnings: None
Relationships: Ectoplasm/Gang Orca
Characters: Ectoplasm, Gang Orca, Tensei Iida
Additional Tags: Fluff
Summary: When one of Ectoplasm's old students is attacked, he goes to his husband for comfort.
Ectoplasm collapsed into Gang Orca’s arms. His eyes weary from the long day. The two of them lay together in each other’s embrace as they relaxed from a long day at work. Ectoplasm couldn’t help but feel guilty for the fact that he no longer had any energy for his love. But there was nothing else he could do. His love placed a kiss on the top of his head as he made himself more comfortable against the skin of the mutant.
“We lost another one today,” Ectoplasm felt tears prick at his eyes as he made himself think about what happened that day. “Another one of those damned kids decided to go out and be stupid.”
“I heard. The attack with Stain. You taught Tensei, didn’t you?”
Ectoplasm blinked back tears. “Yeah. I taught him. I have his kid brother in one of my classes too.”
The two pro-heroes fell into silence as the weight of what had happened seemed to finally hit the two of them.
“I-” It was like all of the emotions finally hit him. The weight of what Stain had done to one of their own. To one of his students. “I can’t believe that he’s…”
The tears broke through as Ectoplasm rolled over to place his face on Gang Orca’s chest. The man wrapped his arms around Gang Orca who didn’t do much to keep him away. Gang Orca wrapped his arms around Ectoplasm and nearly crushed him with the strength he held but it was just enough that it made everything seem okay. The two of them held each other for what seemed like hours.
Ectoplasm usually wasn’t the one to cry at situations like this. Heroes got hurt all the time. Heroes died all the time and Stain’s attack was no different than what had happened before. There were far worse heroes than Stain and that was saying something. That…that man had attacked one of his students and left him in the hospital. Someone who he had taken under his wing.
Gang Orca took Ectoplasm’s hand in his and gave it a hard squeeze. The two of them snuggled down into the coziness of nothing to do. Though, the night was never over for Ectoplasm. He was never done grading homework or looking up lesson plans. Even in these few moments of grief, the thought of going back to grading was nagging at him. Always there in the back of his mind.
What was left of Ectoplasm’s legs curled around and into the nooks created by Gang Orca’s own legs. If he wanted to get up and move around he’d either have to put his legs back on, get into a wheelchair and disturb Gang Orca’s peace to go get it, or really disturb his peace and ask him to carry him back into his office.
“I don’t want to move.” Ectoplasm curled into Gang Orca’s chest, his hand gripping onto the shirt that separated true skin-to-skin contact.
“But you have to go get work done, babe,” Gang Orca peeled Ectoplasm off of his body and held him up above him at an arm’s length. “Please, you need someone to actually grade those papers. Might help take your mind off of Iida, don’t you think?”
He was right. The test papers had been laying on his desk for a week and Tensei’s younger brother was already up his ass about it. Ectoplasm wiggled in Gang Orca’s grip but didn’t want to get out of his hold, not truly. Ectoplasm tried not to fight the cuddles his husband wanted to give him.
Ectoplasm reached forward towards Gang Orca with a pout, “Carry me back to my office?”
“Of course, my love.” Gang Orca pulled the man closer to him and slung him over his shoulder. The nubs Ectoplasm called legs slapped his husband’s pecs. “I would love nothing more.”
Their office was at the back of the apartment the heroes shared together and it wasn’t much either. Just a spare bedroom converted into the office. Two small-small for them at least-desks had been pushed together so that they could face each other when they were working on reports or when Gang Orca was writing the next great Japanese novel or when Ectoplasm was working on grading papers.
His husband placed Ectoplasm onto his chair. A smile crossed his face before he turned on his heel and made his way towards the light which burned after hours of just sulking in the darkness. Gang Orca crossed the room once more and sat on his knees in front of Ectoplasm. He took Ectoplasm’s hands with a sigh.
“There is nothing you could have done to save Tensei.” Gang Orca seemed to reassure the two of them at the same time. “You were too far away from trying to contain the nomus Shigaraki sent out.”
“I know,” Ectoplasm looked at the ring on his finger. “I just wish I could have done more to help him.”
“There is nothing you could have done, my love.”
“I know.” Ectoplasm repeated, more to reassure himself about what happened. He wished that there was something that he could have done to help out Tensei.
He turned to his desk, breaking contact with his husband’s grasp to distract himself with the work that his husband told him to distract himself with. I have to go see him as soon as he is better. He promised himself as he stared at the name at the top of the paper. Tenya Iida.
~
Gang Orca held the held of Ectoplasm as they stood outside the door of Tensei’s bedroom. The two of them waiting on Tensei’s mother to open the door and give them the news. Hopefully, Tensei would see them. There was no good reason as to why he would say no to the two of them. The door to his room swung open and Tensei’s mother bowed her head and let the two of them inside of Tensei’s room.
“I will leave you three to talk.”
The door shut behind her voice as the two heroes made their way towards the hero who lay in his bed with the curtains drawn so the room was shrouded in darkness.
“I…” Ectoplasm’s throat closed at the sight of him.
A shadow of his former self. The once shining hope of the future generation was now in a hospital bed in his room. His breathing was assisted by an oxygen tank to his left. The three of them sat in silence as Ectoplasm and Gang Orca took in the sight of Tenya Iida. It took a few minutes but Ectoplasm finally made his way over to his former student, cursing himself for picking out the heavier pair of legs today as they seemed to pull him straight to his knees.
“I’m glad to see one of us still has working legs,” Tenya cracked. Never one to pass up the chance at a joke, unlike his brother.
“What?” Ectoplasm shifted focus to the man in the bed. “What do you mean? They said you were fine.”
“Who said I was fine?” Tensei pushed himself up onto his shoulders. Even though he could only see him out of the corner of his eyes, he felt Gang Orca take his hand. Tensei’s eyes darted in the direction of Gang Orca. “Did Orca tell you that?”
“Yes,” Ectoplasm’s eyes shot over to meet his lover’s. “Is he not fine, Kugo?”
Gang Orca squeezed his hand. “No…he is not fine, my love.”
“Wh-what happened?”
“You should tell him.” Tensei seemed to insist about whatever subject the two were being so secretive about.
“Tell me what .” Ectoplasm looked around, trying to yank his hand out of his husband’s grip but he was too strong. “What do you have to tell me that’s so important that you had to keep it from me?”
“Tensei…during the attack with Stain…he was supposed to be temporarily paralyzed by Stain’s ability…but…”
Tensei held up a hand to cut off Gang Orca, “It’s permanent, Ectoplasm. The paralyzation is permanent.”
Ectoplasm felt tears prick at his eyes for the second time that month and stood from his seat. “I am so sorry but I have to…”
Ectoplasm left the room far before he could finish his sentence. He couldn’t even tell he was outside by his next breath until he felt the raindrops on his skin. The rain hadn’t stopped since they had gotten there. One of the rainiest days of the season, they had said. But it felt even rainier when the raindrops on Ectoplasm’s cheeks mixed with his own tears. It would be a vain attempt to get the tears off his face.
A heavy hand laid on Ectoplasm’s shoulder as he finally turned towards the touch of the man he loved. He had no way of stopping the tears that flowed from his eyes. Ectoplasm wrapped an arm around his lover and placed a hand on his shoulder just long enough to finally feel steady.
“I love you, you know?”
“I know. I know.”